


Haunted and Haunting

by Nemainofthewater



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: AU-Klaus Dies, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Ben lives, Character Death, Don't copy to another site, Family, Gen, Ghosts, Haunting, Life and Death situations, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Suicide Attempt, but Klaus isn't letting that stop him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 14:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18153098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/pseuds/Nemainofthewater
Summary: Klaus dies age thirteen. That doesn't stop him looking out for his family.Six times Klaus saved his family's lives, and one time they saved his.





	Haunted and Haunting

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe a bit OOC? I am still trying to establish my Klaus voice.

Klaus Hargreeves dies when he is thirteen-years-old. With Five’s disappearance, Reginald has been focusing more on Klaus’ ‘special training’, ignoring the pleading, the screams, the red scratches littering his arms where Klaus has tried anchor himself with the pain.

 

His siblings are no help: Luther is, well he’s Luther and where Luther goes Allison follows. Diego has enough problems, intent on proving himself to their father, showing him that he’s at least as able if not better than Luther despite his stutter. Five is gone, has been missing for the past six months. Ben is dealing with his own nightmares, making sure that THEY couldn’t come through while he’s asleep, his control slipping by the day, chipped at with every mission he’s forced to kill and shattered by his worry for Five. Klaus is glad that Ben hasn’t noticed anything wrong because he doesn’t want to put anything more on Ben’s shoulders.

 

And Vanya… Maybe she does know. Maybe she looks at his pale face and red eyes, notices the long sleeves that he has taken to wearing, hears his screams every night despite the soundproofed room he sleeps in. But then again maybe she doesn’t. Klaus doesn’t know whether it was better if she’s truly ignorant or if she has seen all the signs and doesn’t dare speak.

 

So one day Klaus sneaks into the infirmary. And, carefully locking the door behind him, he climbs up the shelves until he can reach the pills, the morphine tablets that he has only taken once before when, age ten, he was thrown into a wall during a mission and had broken two ribs. He still thinks about it: his mind floating, free of pain, of training and, best of all, free of ghosts. He was never allowed near the tablets again; not once Reginald had discovered that they impeded his abilities.

 

But Klaus is clever, that’s what mom always says.

 

So, he hides the pills in the rolled-up bottoms of his trousers and, when he’s shivering and cold and not-alone in the empty mausoleum, he takes them all.

 

The next morning when Reginald Hargreeves opens the door there aren’t any living things in the mausoleum at all.

 

1.

 

The thing about living on the Moon is that there are a multitude of ways that things can go wrong.

 

It turns out that long term inhabitation on a desolate rock hurtling around the Earth at 2286 mph, with no air, food, or water isn’t conducive to long term health. Worse of all is the isolation: there are no other living beings for thousands of miles. Luckily for Luther, Klaus isn’t alive.

 

Luther is strong. He’s determined, and resolute in his knowledge that he’s doing the right thing, the best thing, because father says so. He never realises that his important mission is nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to send Luther away so that nobody can witness his shame and failure.

 

True, Klaus has the advantage of seventeen years’ worth of practice when it comes to haunting his siblings, even if he still can’t manage to manifest himself, so it’s relatively easy for him to travel to the Moon (and that’s so fucking cool, he’s on the Moon). On his infrequent visits back home to see mom and Ben he can see Luther’s unopened letters and progress reports pile up in their father’s study.

 

It stirs enough familial feeling in him that he actually bothers to make the trip to see Luther ever week or so. And despite the fact that Luther was, and still is, a massively entitled, self-righteous asshole he’s still family.

 

So Klaus hangs around for a few hours. Sits by Luther’s side and stares out at the Sun with him. Luther doesn’t actually have a lot to occupy his time with, so when Klaus notices him nodding off slightly on one of his visits he doesn’t think anything of it at first. I mean, rude, because what sort of person goes to sleep when visitors are present, but still. It’s Luther.

 

It isn’t until Klaus starts to sense Luther’s life-force flickering that he becomes worried. Because shit he’s not ready to have any of his family join him. Not even Luther.

 

“Luther?” Klaus says, “Hey Luther. Big guy. Luther.”

 

He tries slapping his face, but his hand just goes through his brother’s body as always. Fuck.

 

Klaus concentrates. Hard. Harder than that time he wanted to steal Ben’s ice cream. Or when he saw Vanya crying and needed to give him a hug. Or when he wanted to knock Diego into Eudora because he thought it would be funny.

 

(Or when he tried to knock dad’s stupid monocle off his stupid face. What? So he has bad days. He’s dead and his dad was kind of the one to kill him: he’s allowed a few off days)

 

There’s a blue glow coalescing around Luther’s body now and Klaus can feel that he doesn’t have a lot of time. Finally, and with a lot of swearing, his hands start to glow (blue he notes absently, the same colour that’s surrounding Luther) and when he next slaps his brother the blow actually connects.

 

“Oh thank god,” Klaus says.

 

Luther still won’t wake up though. Not even when Klaus manages to slap him twice more. There’s also a worrying beeping sound coming from his helmet, red lights flashing.

 

“Fine! I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

 

Painstakingly slowly, Klaus manages to dislodge Luther from his chair and propel him back toward the base. Acutely aware that he was running out of time, he gathers all of his energy and pushes as strongly as he can. Thank god there’s no gravity on the Moon because there’s no way he would have been able to do this on Earth, even when he was still alive.

 

He’s heard somewhere that the human body can survive without air for three minutes. Luther is superhumanly strong: are his lungs as well? Klaus doesn’t want to find out.

 

With a final heave he manages to hit the door controls and shove Luther into the base, taking great pleasure in shattering the glass of his helmet with one last burst of strength. He sticks around until he sees Luther start to breath, the blue glow around his fading.

 

Then he releases the gathered power and just drifts. He needs to sleep for a week. Or whatever the hell ghosts do.

 

2.

 

Learning that he can physically touch things when he needs to is both amazing and exasperating. Amazing because this the first step toward letting his family know that he’s still around. Plus all the potential for pranks. And maybe waffles?

 

Exasperating because he still doesn’t know how he did it. With Luther he was able to enter a hyper-concentrative state, continuously channelling his powers through his hands until his brother was safe. I mean, true it did totally knock him on his ass: he wasn’t even able to travel properly for weeks afterwards, stuck drifting through space. It’s fine. He doesn’t like to think about it. But it’s fine.

 

(When he finally manages to get back to Earth, he might cry a little. Maybe. But what happens in the trashcan stays in the trashcan)

 

After haphazardly trying to knock over everything in sight and numerous attempts at pulling Diego’s pants down while he’s on dates with Eudora, Klaus determines that his whole touching the physical plane thing only really happens when his siblings are in danger.

 

So he does the logical thing. He starts to follow Diego around.

 

Diego seeks out danger like a particularly suicidal bloodhound. Klaus figures that sooner or later he’s going to get himself into danger, probably fighting muggers in a back alley somewhere. Or maybe ninjas. Or ooh maybe a crime syndicate?

 

He maybe doesn’t really know what wannabe vigilantes do. And he’s maybe basing his expectations off the Daredevil comics that Ben reads. But come on, ninjas would be so cool.

 

Unfortunately, his brother never seems to be in any real danger. Sure he seeks out criminals in his spare time and time that he really shouldn’t be sparing (Klaus has no idea how Eudora puts up with him). But his powers and his skill with his knives mean that most fights he’s in are over annoying quickly.

 

“C’mon,” Klaus whines to the oblivious Diego, “I’m not asking for death here! Just a nice flesh wound. A gash. Maybe some light stabbing? You’ll get better in no time. Who knew that vigilante-ing was so boring!”

 

Diego ignores him. As always. Honestly even when he was still alive there was a large chance of being ignored by his siblings, who all had better things to do than humour attention-seeking Number Four. Klaus supposes it isn’t surprising that things haven’t changed in death.

 

He sighs and goes back to trying to draw on the condensation covered bathroom mirror. He’s sitting cross-legged in the bathroom sink, waiting for Diego to finish his shower so that he can go back to watching him get into fights with bad guys.

 

There’s a squeal. A loud curse.

 

“What?”

 

Klaus have already moved, appearing next to Diego (a bit pervy sure but he’s seen worse over the years) where his badass, masked, crime-fighter of a brother…is slipping?

 

Klaus instinctively grabs on to him, his hands making proper contact and preventing him from falling neck-first onto the edge of the bath.

 

“Really Universe? Really?”

 

3.

 

Ok, so maybe it’s not that someone has to be literally dying. Maybe the panicked adrenaline rush is enough for him to interact with the material plane?

 

He takes to following everyone around: knowing his siblings as he does it’s only a matter of time before one of them does something idiotic. He’s lost all faith in their good sense ever since Diego almost died falling over in the shower.

 

Luckily dear old dad really wanted a big family of something, so Klaus establishes a pretty efficient stalker routine: Luther on Mondays (because no one likes Mondays), followed by Diego on Tuesdays, Allison on Wednesdays, Vanya on Thursdays, and Ben on Fridays because he likes to reward himself. He takes the weekends off: he loves his family but if he’s around them constantly he might have to murder them.

 

Of course, it’s on a Saturday when the next incident happens.

 

Klaus is hanging out at Allison’s house watching morning cartoons with Claire because his niece is awesome and has the best taste in tv shows. Seriously. He doesn’t know what he would do if he couldn’t get his weekly dose of My Little Pony. Go feral maybe.

 

In any case, it’s a Saturday. Patrick and Allison are off…doing whatever celebrities do on a Saturday morning? Klaus isn’t sure of the exact details. Sipping mimosas with George Clooney while lying on an artificial beach and being fanned by aspiring actors maybe.

 

Focus. OK. Allison and Patrick are out the house. Claire is watching cartoons and eating breakfast. The babysitter, a stressed seventeen-year-old studying for her SATs and trying to make some extra cash, is stressing in the kitchen, three rooms down from the television room.

 

And Claire… Claire is allergic to peanuts. Incredibly allergic. So when she curiously investigates the power bar that the babysitter had left on the table, Klaus is watching her. And when, after taking a tentative bite, she starts gasping for air he reacts. Klaus paid attention when Allison was talking about the dangers of any nuts or nut by-products in the house. He knows where the EpiPens are kept.

 

He’s gone in a flash, rifling through the drawers in the bathroom cabinet, grabbing two and sticking one into Claire’s small thigh.

 

She stops that horrible gasping sound almost immediately, but she still looks bad. Suddenly furious, Klaus sweeps one of the side lamps off the table with a CRASH that makes the babysitter come running.

 

When she goes to call 911, she finds that the number has already been dialled.

  
5.

 

Over the next few years, Klaus manages to hone his abilities somewhat. He still can’t fully manifest or talk to people. But he’s getting batter at holding things at will. He spent an entire glorious day hiding dad’s monocle in increasingly absurd places, only stopping when it looked like he was going to seriously blame mom.

 

Needless to say when the old bastard dies he’s literally jumping up and down with joy.

 

It’s kind of nice to see everyone in one place for once, even if they’re acting awkward and stilted. Even though Luther is still a colossal douchebag. But they’re family. More than that, they’re the Hargreeves: a family composed of five dysfunctional adults, one runaway, and one ghost. Friction is kind of expected and is pretty funny. Klaus wishes that he had some popcorn.

 

Only then Five arrives. Five, who none of them have seen in 17 years, Five who’s wearing the body of a young teenager and who’s ranting about the Apocalypse that’s due to happen in eight days.

 

Klaus is still holding out for time travel messing with your brain, but when the hitmen start shooting at his (very little) brother he has to admit that there’s something going on.

 

“Fuck Five,” Klaus says, “What did you do to make them so pissed off at you?”

 

He watches Five stab one of the guys with a knife.

 

“And when did you get so good at killing people?”

 

Honestly, what is it with this family and being really good at murdering people? Five and Diego literally do it as their day job, but all of them are pretty deadly. Even Allison before she got more of a handle on her powers.

 

“Look,” Klaus sighs, “I think I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, just this once, OK? Forty or so years in an apocalyptic wasteland. That must’ve been tough buddy.”

 

Five continues to kill. Klaus idly pokes at a doughnut and wishes that he could eat. He really misses sugar.

 

“Ooh, missed one on your right!” he calls out. But Five hasn’t seen him. Klaus rolls his eyes.

 

“And people say I do nothing for this family,” he says, shaking his head and tutting. He casually knocks the hitman’s gun a few crucial inches to the right just before he fires and watches the bullet sail past Five and hit one of his friends.

 

Five stares at the gunman incredulously.

 

“Are you actually incompetent?” he asks.

 

“Nope, that’s thank to me!” Klaus says waving. Five just stabs the guy in the throat.

 

“Well,” Klaus says, sadly looking down at the blood spurt, “At least one upside to being dead is that I know that’s not going to stain.”

 

6.

 

“Ben! Ben bro, what are you doing? That’s a very bad idea Ben. And that’s coming from the king of bad ideas over here.”

 

Ben is looking in the mirror. It’s evident he hasn’t slept: it’s written on the lines of his face, the dark shadows under his eyes.

 

“Is it me,” he whispers, “Am I the one the start the Apocalypse.”

 

He places a hand on his chest where THEY burst out of him.

 

“What the fuck Ben? Of course you’re not going to start the Apocalypse! You’re like the least likely one of us. Ever. You cried at the end of Titanic!”

 

Ben opens the cabinet slowly. Klaus stares. It’s still sitting there innocuously. The bright orange pill bottle full of morphine. It could be the same one he’d used to…

 

“Ben, don’t do this to me. Not over something that could just be a PTSD fuelled fantasy.”

 

Ben takes the bottle and slowly starts shaking pills out into his palm. He stares at them blankly for a minute. Klaus hopes that now that he’s seen them, now that he’s confronted with actually going through with this… maybe he’ll change his mind.

 

“It’s for the best,” Ben says. His voice is wavering. But Klaus can hear the certainty in it.

 

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Klaus roars, and smacks the pills out of Ben’s hands sending them flying in every direction. But Klaus is still angry. The small white capsules lift themselves into the air and are crushed simultaneously, leaving nothing behind but traces of white powder.

 

“If you ever try that again,” Klaus says, fury making his voice shake and distort, “I’ll kill you myself Ben, do you understand me?”

 

Ben whips his head around.

 

“Wait, Klaus?” he asks, “Klaus, is that you?”

 

Klaus’ fury subsides.

 

“Ben?” he says, “Can you hear me?”

 

But Ben can’t. He calls Klaus’ name once more but can’t hear his brother’s reply. And then Ben sinks to the floor. And shakes.

 

And Klaus knows that his brother can’t hear him. But he kneels down and wraps his pale unsubstantial arms around Ben and hold him.

 

7.

 

Klaus sees Allison aim a gun at Vanya’s head. And he doesn’t think, doesn’t think about the Apocalypse or the fate of the world or the fact that Vanya’s gone crazy and is trying to destroy the Moon (although good riddance Moon, he still hates that thing).

 

No. He sees his baby sister. Because although they’re all the same age, he’s spent so long looking out for his insane family that they’re all his younger siblings now, his to protect and love and make sure that they have decades before they die. Even Five, crotchety old man that he is.

 

So he body tackles her, pushing her head down and out of the way of Allison’s bullet. Vanya sprawls onto the ground, violin bow landing three feet away and violin splintering on impact. Klaus winces. He did not mean to do that: he knows how much her violin means to her.

 

Huh. That’s a strange sensation.

 

He looks down. His chest is leaking blue ectoplasm from the bullet wound that apparently managed to hit him while he was solid.

 

“Huh,” he slurs, “Didn’ kno ghsts cou’ die twice.”

 

            **4**

“Oh my god, Klaus? Can everyone else see this?”

 

Ben clutches his blue-glowing hand.

 

“I thought I heard him a few days ago,” he murmurs, “But I figured I was just having a psychotic break or something.”

 

Allison waves her pad in the air.

 

“Fuck, Vanya!” Diego drops to his knees. Checks her pulse.

 

“She’s alive,” he says grimly.

 

“Er guys,” Ben says.

 

They turn to look out the window. There’s a molten piece of what used to be the Moon hurtling toward them.

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Ben says bleakly, “It doesn’t matter that we stopped Vanya from destroying the world, or that we got Klaus back. We failed. The Apocalypse is still happening.”

 

Diego gives a bitter laugh.

 

“The Umbrella Academy,” he says, “A total failure.”

 

Five stands up, eyes glinting.

 

“Actually… that isn’t true. Do you trust me?”

 

_2002_

Klaus shivers curled in his corner. His eyes are tightly closed, and his hands are over his ears but he can still hear them. Still see them. The dead surrounding him and begging him ‘Please Klaus’ ‘Klaus’ ‘Klaus’ ‘KLAUS’

 

What? That didn’t sound like the dead.

 

There’s an explosion, and Klaus looks up. The door to the Mausoleum has been blown completely off its hinges and in the hole are…

 

…his family. All of them. Even Vanya is there, holding a flashlight. She looks determined. She looks like she might cry.

 

“Klaus,” says Ben, “We’ve come to get you out.”

**Author's Note:**

> I now am also on Tumblr under the [same name](https://nemainofthewater.tumblr.com) .


End file.
